Cockpit seat mockup

This week I have been doing some mockups to decide how to frame the cockpit area and the seats along the sides. Also the cross member that supports the aft wall of the cabin and trying to visualize how all these things fit together. Not many parts f=of a boat are square but they do need to align with each other and intersect at times so I think doing mockups before glueing is a good thing. I have t go to the lumber store and buy some 3/4" marine play as well since the cockpit sole, the rear cockpit bulkhead and the cabin aft wall will be from that.

Cockpit seat framing mockup.

Centerboard ballast

Last weekend, my son and his kids came up to help me attach the ballast shoe (Keel) to the bottom of my boat. I had turned it upside down the week before. We hoisted it up and drilled the bolt holes then set it aside and sealed the surface with Henry's wet patch. A layer of Irish felt then more wet patch and set the keel on again. We bolted it down then trimed the felt and the cleaned up the squeeze then turned her back over. This week I am pouring about 25 lbs of lead into the centerboard so it will sink when I lower it.

I am using my ShopBot CNC to make a pocket for the lead. This CNC is too small for most of the stuff I am doing on the boat but it was the easiest way to do this.

Here the pocket is cut and I made spikes of 3/16 brass rod that I had lying about which should help holding the lead in place. There will be a plywood cover over the lead and the whole thing will get a glass and epoxy sheath after
the board has been shaped into a foil of some kind.

Melting the lead, unfortunately I don't have any pics of the lead after it was poured.

Some plywood gussets being added in anticipation of framing the deck and cockpit.

Ain't she purdy?

Updated sailplan and profile

Not a lot going on with the boat or maybe more exact, not much picture taking going on with the boat. I have been working on the centerboard. It needs some ballast so that it will sink when I want to lower it and it needs a track for the pendant to ride in when I want to bring it back up. Also I have to shape it into some sort of foil so it has less resistance while moving forward. I will add pics of this work soon I promise. My son Matthew and my Grandson Nolan are coming up this weekend to help me install the lead ballast shoe on the bottom of the boat and then flip it back upright so I can continue with the construction.

In the meantime, I have been fooling around with the sailplan
so here is the latest version I am considering.